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Saturday, December 17, 2022

Recap: Sea Dogs win 6-3

FINAL: Cape Breton 3, Saint John 6
Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs
SAINT JOHN
- Cam MacDonald scored a hat trick to lead the Saint John Sea Dogs to a 6-3 win over the Cape Breton Eagles on Saturday at TD Station.

MacDonald, who was once again used as a defenseman for much of the night, also had an assist in his first star performance. The Tampa Bay Lightning prospect also scored in Friday's 4-3 Sea Dogs win over the Eagles.

Eriks Mateiko, Alexis Cournoyer and Cole Burbidge also scored in the victory. Connor Trenholm had three assists while Jared Cosman added two. Ventsislav Shingarov was very busy in net, making a career high 54 saves in the win.

Charles Boutin, Thomas Desruisseaux and Cam Squires scored for Cape Breton. Nicolas Ruccia made 32 saves in the loss.

The two teams battled to a 2-2 tie in a first period that saw the Eagles fire 28 shots on Shingarov. Saint John didn't lead until late in the second period when Burbidge banged in a loose puck to break a 3-3 tie.

In the third, MacDonald scored on a power play early and the completed the hat trick with a shorthanded goal late.

The win means the Sea Dogs close out the first half of the season with back-to-back victories. They head home for the Christmas break with an 11-18-1-1 record for 24 points - one point back of the Eagles.

LINEUP
Trenholm - MacDonald - Elie
Simek - Burbidge - Mateiko
Laforge - Cournoyer - Reinhart
Thifault - Beaulieu - Szczerba

Tivey - Akkouche
Bilodeau - Cosman
Tracey - Welsh

Shingarov
Brideau

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Nikolas Hurtubise (injury); defensemen Charlie DesRoches (injury), Jeremie Richard (injury) and Vincent Despont (Switzerland world junior training camp); and forwards Brady Burns (first game of a five-game suspension) and Peter Reynolds (injury).

SUSPENDED: Sea Dogs forward Brady Burns served the first game of a five-game suspension he was handed for violating the QMJHL's anti-discrimination policy in Friday's match. Burns has four goals and three assists in three games against the Eagles this season.

MATEIKO: Eriks Mateiko has had a strong month of December. With a goal in Saturday's game, he now has three goals and two assists in nine contests this month. Mateiko had a career high seven shots in Friday's game against the Eagles.

BUSY FIRST: After a scoreless opening period on Friday, both the Sea Dogs and Eagles scored twice in Saturday first frame. But the real noteworthy numbers were on the shot clock, which were 28-8 in favour of Cape Breton. The Eagles hit the 20-shot mark with 6:12 remaining in the first period. The 28 shots were the most by any QMJHL team in a single period this season. The previous high was 25. Cape Breton recorded a total of 57 shots in the game, which is tied for the most recorded in a single game by any QMJHL team this season.
MACDONALD: Cam MacDonald was listed at his usual forward position for this game but once again saw a lot of time on defense. The position change didn't hurt MacDonald's offensive abilities in this match, scoring the third hat trick of his QMJHL career. MacDonald also scored in Friday's game.
LOTS OF SAVES: Ventsislav Shingarov faced a career high 57 shots and made a career high 54 saves in the win. After going 0-4 in the month of November, Shingarov is 3-3 this month with a 3.69 GAA and .907 SV%.

NOTES: Forward Sam-Luca Thifault returned from injury, playing in his first game since Dec. 2... former Sea Dogs forward Carter McCluskey was in the Cape Breton lineup after being a healthy scratch on Friday... Nico Laforge took a rare "playing with a broken stick" penalty in the first period... Cam MacDonald led the Sea Dogs in shots with nine... attendance was just 1,813, likely due to the messy weather.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs are back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 28, hosting the Charlottetown Islanders.

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